Blood is Thicker Than Water

I note an interesting new phrase in the news. It came to my attention in the strange case of the refusal of the British government to allow one Geert Wilders to enter the country. Apparently, Mr. Wilders wanted to show a short documentary of his to select members of the House of Lords who had communicated their interest to him. A private showing of a privately produced documentary to willing British citizens was apparently too much for the Home Secretary, who was afraid of .... what? Insurrection? Out-breaks of murder and mayhem? Revolution? Well, maybe, but not likely. After all, these were members of the House of Lords, who have long since buried their warlike passions in a lethal combination of serial marriages between cousins, brandy, cigars and somnolence induced by general public indifference to them and their affairs. No, the Home Secretary was concerned about - and here is the new phrase - a "threat to public policy." Eh? I can see what a threat to public peace might be, or a threat to public order. These invoke images of real life people in a state of turmoil or chaos. But a threat to public policy? Here, I can only see a thin pale faced man with thick glasses and a pocket protector huffing and puffing as he attempts to rip a volume of drainage regulations in half. And behind him, the Home Secretary leading a fully armored SWAT team of British irregulars, racing to the rescue of home and hearth. Without going into the details of Mr. Wilders offense, which are, quite frankly, irrelevant to the whole affair, let's assume that his documentary was inflammatory. Isn't the description of this problem as a "threat to public policy" a rather blood-less way of putting it? And, in fact, a little googling informs me that the phrase originates in that most blood-less of nation-states, the European Union, wherein each member state is allowed the right to protect itself against "threats to public policy." I can see the zealots massing together now, under the imposing acronym PPCRPP: People for the Protection of Committee Reports and Position Papers. This wonkish approach to the world actually points us to the real reason for this unusual show of determination by the Home Secretary. Mr. Wilders and his film were opposed by British Muslims, and whatever you want to say about Muslims, they are not blood-less. And when the resolute force of real human passion meets the thin, watery drool of modern western culture, the result can only be unseemly capitulation. via email